“Lo Eterno” is a new collection to be presented by young designers from UDIT at MBFWMadrid

A total of 24 students studying for the Official University Degree in Fashion Design at the University of Design, Innovation and Technology (UDIT) will be at the 79th edition of the Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week Madrid to present their Lo Eterno (Eternal) collection for the upcoming Fall/Winter 2024/2025 season.

This show will be the final flourish of a more than year-long collaboration between UDIT and the Thyssen-Bornemisza Museum that has aimed to support talented young designers while using their work to showcase the image of the city of Madrid. These young designers will have the opportunity to present their collection in a fabulous venue, the Galería de Cristal (Glass Gallery) at the Palacio de Cibeles, thanks to the support of Madrid City Council.

This time, students in their final year of the Degree in Fashion Design have interpreted a selection of Renaissance works from the museum's permanent collection to create a collection they have dubbed "Lo Eterno" (Eternal). It is a collection that speaks of the incessant search for truth, careful observation of nature or the awareness of art as a means of connection with the sacred, which were subjects that obsessed great artists of the time such as Titian, Durero and Ghirlandaio.

The students participating in the design of the garments in this collection have developed a narrative that explores the exaltation of divinity and the immersion in threatening tenebrism, a conflict that they have harnessed to contemporise the discourses of the time. Meticulous brushstrokes, delicate, draped forms sculpted on canvas and the characteristic slashed costumes predominant in the portraits of the time are deconstructed in the proposals of these students who have reinterpreted the Renaissance that marked the beginning of modernity in history from their personal points of view.

The 24 designers responsible for the Lo Eterno (Eternal) collection are Gonzalo Álvarez Lucas, Irene Alonso López, Daniel Berrueco Fernández, Catalina Calvo Collado, Estefanía Gento Bravo, Madelin Leal Torres, María Moreno Sánchez, Sofía Rodríguez Fernández, María Sánchez Sánchez, Miguel Alonso Frutos, Paula Anderson Ortiz, Iris Aranzana Quirosa, Sara Bezón Zoydo, Belén de Jesús Rodríguez, Andrea Díaz Cañizares, Alejandra Espada Revuelto, Laura Fernández Díaz, Rodrigo Fernández García, Sheila García Sánchez, Esther García Serrano, Adrián Koukoulis Lorenzo, Sofía Labrador Díaz del Campo, Vicente Martos Vílchez and Marta Guardiola Davó.

UDIT and the Thyssen-Bornemisza Museum, a collaboration that supports talented young fashion designers

The University of Design, Innovation and Technology (UDIT) and the Thyssen-Bornemisza Museum launched this unique collaboration in early 2023 when students in their final year of the Degree in Fashion Design at the University were invited to attend private visits during which the experts at the museum explained the artistic currents of the Renaissance and Impressionism.

The students then embarked on a research and work project that would prepare them to devise, design and make (with help from the academic team of the University and the museum) the collections that they would subsequently show on the MBFWMadrid catwalk in Madrid. This is Spain's most important fashion industry event, where UDIT is the only academic institution that organises its own catwalk show to exhibit its students' creations every year.

This show, staged in the magnificent Galería de Cristal del Palacio de Cibeles in Madrid, is receiving invaluable support from Madrid City Council. The project has been carried out jointly by UDIT and the Thyssen-Bornemisza Museum, and in addition to supporting the talent of young designers at the University, it also aims to show the best heritage and cultural offer of Madrid to a national and international audience.

About the University of Design, Innovation and Technology (UDIT)

UDIT is Spain's first University of Design, Innovation and Technology. It drives the creative industries and is the culmination of more than 20 years of ESNE’s educational project. The largest university campus specialising in Design, Innovation and Technology in Spain is located in the heart of Madrid and has more than 13,000 m2 of state-of-the-art facilities. This pioneering institution has a student body of more than 2,700 who are being prepared to become the new generations that drive the creative industries. 

In the 2023-2024 academic year, UDIT is offering nine official university degrees: Fashion Design, Multimedia and Graphic Design, Interior Design, Product Design, Design and Development of Video Games and Virtual Environments, Audiovisual Design and Illustration, Fashion Management and Communication, Animation and Advertising and Brand Creation. At the postgraduate level, UDIT offers seven official university master's degrees: User Experience, Graphic Design, Interior Design, Illustration, Product Design, Artificial Intelligence and Fashion Design.

The Thyssen-Bornemisza Museum is a public institution that houses one of the most important collections of paintings in the world, with almost 900 works of art collected over seven decades by the Thyssen-Bornemisza family. The Spanish State acquired the collection in 1993. Durero, Evelio Acevedo and Rosa Pérez in a room at the Thyssen Rafael Museum, Titian, Rembrandt, Caravaggio, Monet, Renoir, Cézanne, Van Gogh, Morisot, Picasso, Hopper, Rothko… are some of the great masters from the history of painting to be seen in the museum, which offers a tour of the history of Western art from the 12th to the 20th century. Since 2004, the museum has also exhibited works leased from Baroness Carmen Thyssen-Bornemisza’s private collection.